A simple-cubic photonic lattice in silicon

Abstract

A three-dimensional, quasi-simple-cubic, air-hole photonic crystal was fabricated in silicon. The lattice constant is 530 $\mu$ m and the air-filling factor is 0.84, which corresponds to the simplest structure proposed showing a direct photonic band gap. The observed transmittance in the $\mathrm{\Gamma -Z}$ direction with five periods along each direction agrees very well with the calculated transmittance. Theoretical calculations indicate that a similar lattice with 8$\times$ 8$\times$ 8 periods, which can be fabricated by state-of-the-art techniques, should suffice to observe band gap effects.